


VHS and Chill

by fangs_for_the_memories



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, just a headcanon i had to get down, pre-season zero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-14
Updated: 2015-10-14
Packaged: 2018-04-26 08:32:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4997944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangs_for_the_memories/pseuds/fangs_for_the_memories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taking place slightly before and going until slightly after the <i>Carmilla Zero</i> trailer, Carmilla tries to support Laura getting back to her usual self.  But when they start watching the VHS tapes, Laura gets more than she bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	VHS and Chill

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! I've been writing this while taking breaks from studying for my four exams and working on a couple presentations this week, so I apologize if it feels kinda rough. This is just a totally ridiculous [headcanon](http://romeo-oh-nomeo.tumblr.com/post/130295534227/imagine-all-thats-in-those-video-tapes-is-couples) I had that I had to write out. Hope you enjoy it! :P

Carmilla watches as Laura finally moves for the first time in over a day and starts digging around in the shelves.

“What are you doing?” Carmilla asks with a sigh. _Not that I’m not happy to see you up and about again._ After their realization that good ol’ Lilita Morgan might _not_ be so dead after all, Laura had ceased her burrito-mode in her blanket and leapt into action–– literally.

“We’ve been stuck in here for over a day,” Laura answers, scanning over the spines of books.  “The moment we walked in, the entrance disappeared.  That never happened to us last semester.  Maybe there’s some book in here that’ll tell us how to get back out…” Laura goes around one stack as her voice trails off.

 

Carmilla huffs.  “Laura, no!  Don’t go rooting back there, okay?”

Laura’s head pops back out of the stacks and she starts to walk back towards Carmilla, confused.

“You’re just gonna end up getting—”

Laura trips over something and Carmilla instinctively reaches out and catches her, wincing when Laura lands weirdly on top of her.

“--hurt.”

Carmilla stares at Laura and her eyes involuntarily wander to her lips.  Laura’s eyes drift down as well.  For an impossibly long second, it feels like the world’s melted away and all they have is each other. Laura’s looked so, so small since they fled to the tunnels, and all Carmilla’s wanted to do is hold her and tell her everything is okay.

But everything is _not_ okay, and no amount of hugging or kissing will change that.

Carmilla’s brain tries to tell her to let Laura _go_ already, but it short-circuits and they wind up awkwardly lingering before Carmilla _finally_ pulls away.

“––Sorry.”  _Good going, Karnstein_. They’ve been in some weird awkward region that they never found themselves in before, and now Carmilla had no idea how she was supposed to treat Laura.

_Gee, thanks for condemning me to an execution one second, then killing Vordiemort the next?  Hi, cupcake, let’s not mention everything that’s happened in the past few months and with Mattie and me having to carry your catatonic self away from the crumbling campus?_

It’s enough to make Carmilla cringe. _Maybe I should see if Hallmark has any cards for this kind of stuff._

 

Laura follows the lame apology with as much grace as she can muster.  Which isn’t much. “Uh, no problem. I just tripped over these old…” Laura reaches over to hold up the offending object.  “…VHS tapes.”

Her eyes light up and Carmilla can already see where this is going.

“I wonder if this is from that camera. Or if there’s anything on them.”

 _Abort, abort_. “Well, if they were recorded in here, probably nothing good.  We should go back to finding a way back, now.”

“Well, maybe the library trapped us here for a reason.” Carmilla could throttle Laura sometimes. “Maybe there’s something on these tapes that it needs our help with.”  _Okay, most times._ “Like a cold case to solve.” No, Carmilla could definitely strangle Laura _right now_. “Come on.  There’s even a VCR right there.”

Carmilla rolls her eyes so far she’s afraid they might be lost forever in the back of her skull.  “Please. God. No.”

Laura’s doing that smug thing again when she knows she’s just one cute look away from getting Carmilla to cave. “Look.  We might be trapped here, but we are trapped with snacks. It’ll be like a movie night.”

 

And that’s the last straw because, as silly as this endeavor seems, at least Laura is slowly returning to her usual fired up, driven self.  Laura Hollis, searching for mysteries to solve and cases to close.  Carmilla relents, and it’s not like this has the potential to get anyone hurt or killed, right?  If Laura isn’t ready to face the reality of having to schlep themselves back to the destroyed campus, then Carmilla might as well give her the stepping-stone to get there.

She’d meant it.  She may not like every decision Laura makes, but unfortunately for her, the tiny human does everything with the best of intentions. Carmilla can’t fault her for that, and as long as it’s not detrimental to either of them, she might as well support her.

But that doesn’t mean she can’t pretend to _really_ not enjoy it.

 

Laura pops the VHS tape into the VCR.

“I’m surprised you know how to use one, cupcake,” Carmilla drawls.  “Here I thought using physical videotapes had gone the way of the dinosaurs.”

Laura narrows her eyes at her playfully. “I’m not _that_ young, Carm.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Carmilla says flatly.

Laura huffs and stands up, and for a moment Carmilla’s afraid she’s gone too far with her teasing.

“I’m gonna get some stuff from the vending machine first. Want anything?” Laura asks.

Carmilla shakes her head.

 

Laura nods and walks away.  Truth be told, she doesn’t want snacks.  She still doesn’t have much of an appetite, but that moment with Carmilla earlier was confusing enough that she just needs a few moments of time alone.

She sighs and wanders up to the first floor, praying for all the staircases to remain exactly as they were.  To her relief, after obtaining as many chocolate bars and bags of unhealthy snackfood as she can carry, everything has stayed the same, and she makes it back to Carmilla with no problems.

Carmilla quirks an eyebrow.  “Is there even anything left in that machine?”

“Nope, I emptied it out,” Laura replies. She puts her pile of snacks down and beams at Carmilla.

It feels a bit forced, but Carmilla doesn’t have the heart to comment on it.

“Ready to solve a cold case and help out the library?” Laura asks brightly.

“No,” Carmilla grumbles.

“That’s the spirit,” Laura says, seemingly undeterred. She leans forward and presses the ‘play’ button on the VCR.

 

The dark screen only becomes marginally brighter as the recording starts.  Laura tears open a chocolate bar and snaps off a piece, stuffing it into her mouth. She breaks off another and holds it out for Carmilla.

“I said I didn’t want any, buttercup,” Carmilla sighs.

Laura looks over at her and a pout starts to form.

“Okay, okay,” Carmilla says immediately, taking it and putting it in her mouth.  “ _Happy_?” she snaps, her mouth full.

Laura nods, a small smile appearing. The video continues with absolutely nothing appearing on screen or happening otherwise, so Laura crawls over and presses the fast-forward button, waiting.

Two figures eventually appear on screen, and Laura lets out a small gasp before pressing play again.  They watch as the couple runs through the stacks and the guy playfully pins the girl against a bookcase.

“Oh,” Laura whines, quickly fast-forward through what appears to be a very satisfying make-out session.

 

The couple eventually leaves and there’s another period of inactivity before another couple sneaks in.  One girl pushes another one onto a table and they start to kiss on top of it.

“Gotta say, cutie, there’s nothing cold about these cases,” Carmilla remarks, amused.

Laura looks absolutely scandalized as she ejects the tape and pops in the next one in the pile.

 

It becomes abundantly clear after this tape and after Laura persistently puts another one in that they are all security footages of couples sneaking into the library.  Laura starts to reach for _another_ tape when Carmilla grabs her arm.

“While I’m _sure_ this fourth tape has your smoking gun in it,” Carmilla says, “how about we just assume it might _not_?”

Laura frowns and gently tries to pull out of Carmilla’s grip.

Carmilla lets her arm go and quirks an eyebrow. “Why are you so intent on finding some interesting footage?”

Laura shrugs and ejects the VHS tape. Instead of grabbing another tape, she just settles back against the wall and wraps the blanket around herself again.

 

“Laura?”

Laura’s frown deepens and pulls the blanket closer.

_Oh, no, she’s shutting down again._

_Quick, do something, Karnstein_.

Carmilla sighs and grabs the next tape and pops it in.

“What are you doing?” Laura grumbles.

Carmilla starts fast-forwarding through the footage, her eyes trained on the screen.  “Trying to find you your cold case.”

“Carm, you don’t have to do that,” Laura says softly, but Carmilla doesn’t miss the small smile ghosting her lips.

“No, no,” Carmilla insists with a smirk, “if my cupcake wants to dig through hours of horny adolescents getting it on, then we’ll dig through hours of horny adolescents getting it on.” She scooches back to settle next to Laura.

 

Laura sighs. “I just thought… if we had another case to solve… then I––”  Her voice cracks and she clears her throat before speaking again. “Then I wouldn’t have to focus on the mess I made back at campus.”

Carmilla nods.

Laura sniffles and Carmilla glances over at her before moving closer to the television to focus on the screen.

“Well, then, by all means, let’s focus on the mess in that guy’s pants.”

Laura gives a watery laugh and Carmilla looks away again, hiding her grin.  That is, until she feels something small hit her in the back of the head.

 

She turns around and looks to see what the guilty object was.

Carmilla raises an eyebrow and then narrows her eyes. “What the chocolaty hell?”

Laura giggles, the tears in her eyes slowly disappearing.  She chucks another piece of chocolate at Carmilla, who raises her hands up in defense. “You crazy little creampuff,” she growls, picking up one of the pieces and aiming at Laura’s face.

Laura opens her mouth and the piece flies right in.

Carmilla blinks, shocked.  “Are you serious right now?”  She picks up the other piece and aims to pelt Laura with it, but Laura catches it before it hits the ground and pops it into her mouth.

“I’m not gonna waste food,” Laura says, smiling.

“Eat _this_ , Hollis.”  Carmilla scowls and playfully throws the remote control at Laura, who lets out a yelp as it smacks her in the shoulder. 

 

Laura picks up an entire sack of mini fig newtons and chucks it at the vampire, who swats it away.  It flies back at Laura and smacks her in the forehead, right on where the still-healing gash is.  Laura lets out a gasp and her hand flies to the cut.

“Crap,” Carmilla mutters, crawling over to her. She gently removes Laura’s hand and inspects the cut.  “It's not bleeding again.”

Laura pouts. “Who knew _VHS and chill_ could be so detrimental to my health?”

“You're the clumsiest cupcake I know,” Carmilla teases. “ _Everything_ can be detrimental to your health.”

“Not as much as you are,” Laura quips.

Carmilla gives a small chuckle and softly runs a finger over Laura’s cut.  “Does it hurt?”

Laura giggles and shakes her head. “I mean, it’s been a nice consistent throb for the past couple days, so…”

Carmilla frowns.  “I’m sorry.”

“Well, it’s not like, _your_ fault I got the cut,” Laura points out.

“No, I meant I was sorry for assaulting you with a bag of fig newtons,” Carmilla clarifies, rolling her eyes. She’s removed her hand from the cut and rests it on Laura’s knee.

Laura grins.  “I knew what you meant.”

Carmilla scoffs but offers Laura a small smile back.

 

“Well, those VHS tapes were a bust,” Laura says, deflating with a pout.

Carmilla snorts.  “Yeah, coz that was _such_ a promising endeavor.”

Laura bites her lip.  “I guess we have to go back to campus, huh?”

Carmilla leans forward and presses a caring, warm kiss to Laura’s cut.  She lingers before pulling away.  “Afraid so, Hollis.”

Laura hesitates for a second before pressing a quick kiss to Carmilla’s cheek.  “But first we’re gonna eat all these snacks,” Laura declares.  “Might as well take back our campus on full stomachs.”

 

Down the corridor, they hear footsteps.

“Hey, guys,” LaFontaine calls. “Do you know what happened to all the snacks in the machi––”  They stop when they see the pile of snacks by Laura.

Carmilla tosses the bag of mini fig newtons at them and they catch it.

“Oh, _sure_ ,” Laura says wryly.  “ _Them_ , you don’t hit.”

Carmilla grins sheepishly as she opens a candy bar and breaks off a piece for Laura.  “ _They_ didn’t make me sit through _four_ VHS tapes of watching horny teenagers get it on.”

LaF gives Laura a bewildered look and Laura playfully swats Carmilla.

“I swear I thought there was something else on them,” Laura insists while Carmilla takes a bite out of her bar.

“Like what?” LaF snickers.  “Porn?”

Carmilla almost chokes on her piece of chocolate.


End file.
